HRD RADIO REPORT
The HRD Radio Report showcases the weekly Active Rock Mediabase Charts (compiled by AllAccess.com), and appears every Tuesday on HardRockDaddy.com. The HRD Radio Report digs deeper into the weekly Active Rock charts, providing commentary, reviews, recommendations and predictions. It also features opinion pieces on chart action and the music business in general.
Many of the artists featured on the Active Rock charts have already been reviewed on HardRockDaddy.com.
TOP 100 HARD ROCK SONGS OF 2016
TOP 50 ACTIVE ROCK SONGS OF 2016 (by spins)
TOP 30 OCTANE BIG ‘UNS COUNTDOWN SONGS OF 2016
The following is the Active Rock Mediabase Chart for the week ending 3/18/17. All exclusive HRD content is featured below the chart:
| CHART | CHART | ARTIST | SONG TITLE | RADIO |
| POSITION | POSITION | SPINS | ||
| THIS WEEK | LAST WEEK | THIS WEEK | ||
| 1 | 1 | SHINEDOWN | “How Did You Love” | 1681 |
| 2 | 2 | BREAKING BENJAMIN | “Never Again” | 1671 |
| 3 | 4 | KORN | “Take Me” | 1603 |
| 4 | 3 | PRETTY RECKLESS | “Oh My God” | 1537 |
| 5 | 5 | BEARTOOTH | “Hated” | 1391 |
| 6 | 8 | PAPA ROACH | “Help” | 1380 |
| 7 | 6 | STARSET | “Monster” | 1337 |
| 8 | 7 | GREEN DAY | “Still Breathing” | 1101 |
| 9 | 10 | POP EVIL | “If Only For Now” | 1098 |
| 10 | 9 | HIGHLY SUSPECT | “My Name Is Human” | 1097 |
| 11 | 13 | SEETHER | “Let You Down” | 1065 |
| 12 | 12 | BLEEKER | “Highway” | 1023 |
| 13 | 14 | INCUBUS | “Nimble Bastard” | 1020 |
| 14 | 11 | METALLICA | “Atlas, Rise!” | 884 |
| 15 | 15 | SKILLET | “Back From The Dead’ | 840 |
| 16 | 16 | NICKELBACK | “Feed The Machine” | 778 |
| 17 | 17 | MASTODON | “Show Yourself” | 750 |
| 18 | 19 | THROUGH FIRE | “Breathe” | 582 |
| 19 | 21 | ALL THAT REMIANS | “Madness” | 552 |
| 20 | 20 | ALTER BRIDGE | “My Champion” | 547 |
| 21 | 24 | VOLBEAT (f. DANKO JONES) | “Black Rose” | 543 |
| 22 | 18 | K.FLAY | “Blood In The Cut” | 518 |
| 23 | 22 | HALESTORM | “Still Of The Night” | 452 |
| 24 | 25 | TWENTY ONE PILOTS | “Heavydirtysoul” | 396 |
| 25 | 27 | AVATAR | “New Land” | 389 |
| 26 | 28 | MISSIO | “Middle Fingers” | 377 |
| 27 | 26 | ADELITA’S WAY | “Ready For War (Pray For Peace)” | 276 |
| 28 | 29 | LETTERS FROM THE FIRE | “Worth The Pain” | 266 |
| 29 | 33 | RADKEY | “Dark Black Makeup” | 265 |
| 30 | 31 | BADFLOWER | “Animal” | 249 |
| 31 | 32 | ART OF ANARCHY | “The Madness” | 227 |
| 32 | 34 | CITIZEN ZERO | “Lure And Persuade” | 221 |
| 33 | 36 | DED | “Anti-Everything” | 212 |
| 34 | 43 | A DAY TO REMEMBER | “Bullfight” | 204 |
| 35 | 38 | RAG N BONE MAN | “Human” | 192 |
| 36 | 23 | SIXX:A.M. | “We Will Not Go Quietly” | 189 |
| 37 | 49 | MOTIONLESS IN WHITE | “Loud” | 184 |
| 38 | 42 | AVENGED SEVENFOLD | “God Damn” | 174 |
| 39 | 30 | GOODBYE JUNE | “Oh No” | 159 |
| 40 | 39 | SEPTEMBER MOURNING | “20 Below” | 136 |
| 41 | 57 | GODSMACK | “Come Together” | 134 |
| 42 | 40 | LIKE A STORM | “Pure Evil” | 130 |
| 43 | 45 | BLACK MAP | “Run Rabbit Run” | 122 |
| 44 | 44 | IMAGINE DRAGONS | “Believer” | 122 |
| 45 | 48 | DREAMERS | “Sweet Disaster” | 118 |
| 46 | 47 | STITCHED UP HEART | “Catch Me When I Fall” | 110 |
| 47 | 50 | BIFFY CLYRO | “Howl” | 108 |
| 48 | 46 | FRANK CARTER & THE RATTLESNAKES | “Lullaby” | 108 |
| 49 | 41 | YOU ME AT SIX | “Give” | 104 |
| 50 | 51 | THE REVIVALISTS | “Wish I Knew You” | 90 |
PUBLISHER’S PICK OF THE WEEK (By Adam Waldman)
BLACKLITE DISTRICT – “Living In A Nightmare”
“When I think of the fame and I think of the game, I’m going to play the same game that I’ve always played.” The hook in Blacklite District’s “Living In A Nightmare” is not only infectious, but also an autobiographical truth as far as I can tell (at least when it comes to getting radio airplay). There are a few ways to play “the game” if you’re an artist…
You can hope that your fan base grows so large that radio has no choice but to pay attention to you. Of course, very few have gone that route without having a decent promotion budget behind them. You can tailor your sound to try and compete with many other similar sounding bands and battle for whatever spins you can grab. Or, you can throw caution to the wind and play the game with your own rulebook. Blacklite District definitely belongs in the latter category. Their distinct Active Rock sound is heavily influenced by other genres ranging from electronic to hip-hop to alternative.
“Living In A Nightmare” has a definite edge to it that makes is a good fit for Active Rock radio. Like many other artists in the format, the band features two distinct vocal styles (courtesy of Kyle Pfeifer and Roman James). However, unlike most other artists, Blacklite District doesn’t rely upon one of the vocalists handling “clean” vocals, while the other growls in a manner that is often times indecipherable from one band to the next. James’ straight-forward, emotive rock vocals are perfectly complemented by Pfeifer’s electronic, hip-hop style. The harmonies between the duo adds another layer of intrigue to a band that is already one of the more interesting acts around. Aggression meets melody on “Living In A Nightmare” as Blacklite District continues to play the game by the own rules. Hopefully, programmers will realize how much the band’s unique sound is a breath of fresh air for their playlists.
PUBLISHER’S PREDICTIONS (by Adam Waldman)
As predicted last week, Breaking Benjamin solidified their #2 position and will be the new #1 next week unless every programmer jumps off of the bandwagon at the same time. In fact, they came within 11 spins of unseating Shinedown this week. Also predicted last week was the decline of Pretty Reckless’ latest single, “Oh My God.” Korn leapfrogged the band to take over the #3 position on the chart, meaning that Taylor Momsen and Company will have peaked at #2. With Shinedown and Pretty Reckless falling, there’s an excellent chance that Papa Roach joins Breaking Benjamin and Korn in the top 3 next week.
HRD SPIN CONTROL (by Adam Waldman and Jon Loveless)
Each week, we will share the songs that we think should be added to rotations, alongside the songs that we feel should be dropped from rotations, either because they are a bad fit for the format, or because they have run their course and it’s time for a new single from the artist.
SPIN IT…
BLACKLITE DISTRICT – “Living In A Nightmare”
DEMON HUNTER – “Died In My Sleep”
THOUSAND FOOT KRUTCH – “Lifeline”
EVE TO ADAM – “Tongue Tied”
MANAFEST – “Stones”
SHALLOW SIDE – “Can You Hear Me”
BOBAFLEX – “Hey You”
HELL OR HIGHWATER – “I Want It All”
DROP IT…
Rag N Bone Man – “Human”
Imagine Dragons – “Believer”
Biffy Clyro – “Howl”
Twenty One Pilots – “Heavydirtysoul”
K-Flay – “Blood In The Cut”
Dreamers – “Sweet Disaster”
You Me At Six – “Give”
Metallica – “Atlas, Rise!”
THE BREAKDOWN by Jon Loveless
KING OF THE HILL
Shinedown holds on to the top spot on the latest Mediabase Active Rock Airplay chart for a fifth week in a row (but only by a razor-thin margin). Had the cutoff point for the new chart come even a couple of hours later, rapidly-rising #2 Breaking Benjamin would likely have unseated the reigning champs. That will have to wait for another week. Korn moves into the #3 position, passing Pretty Reckless by just a bit.
NOTABLE CHART MOVEMENT
No change in the composition of the Top 10 this week…
All That Remains is the only new arrival in the Top 20…
Radkey makes their Top 30 debut thanks to a small increase in spins, Badflower backs into the same tier (despite a slight deterioration in airplay)…
A Day To Remember was last week’s highest debut on the chart. This week, they have the highest of three new entries in the Top 40…
Godsmack digs out a cover song to provide the only true chart debut in the Top 50 this week, joined by a song that dropped off the chart briefly a week ago.
THREE UP & THREE DOWN
RISING
Papa Roach – “Help”
Seether – “Let You Down”
Incubus – “Nimble Bastard”
FALLING
Shinedown – “How Did You Love”
Green Day – “Still Breathing”
Metallica – “Atlas, Rise!”
TRENDS AND OBSERVATIONS
The relatively stagnant chart this week isn’t entirely surprising given that much of the middle of the chart is still made up of relatively new singles. That’s not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself. Now I just wish that music directors (or their consultant overlords) would bring themselves to let go of several songs that they’ve beaten to death because they’re from safe and familiar artists. I won’t hold my breath waiting for that to happen.
WRAP-UP
That’s all for this week. Tune in to HardRockDaddy.com every Tuesday for the HRD Radio Report. \m/
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